A major factor contributing to this is the spread of Counter Reformation spirituality and Contemplative Spirituality/Mysticism (CSM) ala gurus Dallas Willard and his spiritual twin Living Spiritual Teacher and Quaker mystic Richard Foster.

You need to realize that it’s even slithered deeply into the mainstream of evangelicalism as you can see e.g. in Gospel Coalition Contributor Mike Cosper Defends Retreat With Roman Catholics. CSM is not a neutral practice; know this, my research shows that once someone begins dabbling in this they almost immediately begin to drift away from proper Biblical doctrine.

The following quote is from Richard Foster — Celebration Of Deception Evangelical Mysticism, an important Critcal Issues Commentary article by Christian apologist Bob DeWaay. It also highlights another aspect of the rancid fruit of CSM; a growing rebellion within evanjellyfish against Sola Scriptura. With this article DeWaay sends a clear Biblical warning concerning a core teaching of spurious CSM.

Foster’s musings are really rooted in classic mysticism and actually comprise a large part of the faulty foundation of the deformation of the faith originally espoused in the evangelical camp by the Emerging Church aka the Emergent Church. We’re now beginning to experience the price paid when leaders in mainstream churches turned their younger sectors over to wolves like Rob Bell with his Love Wins mythology.

And there’s no excuse; for example, two years ago I warned you that Rick Warren Now Openly Promoting Contemplative Spirituality/Mysticism as he brought Protholic CSM guru Peter Scazzero in to the first Radicalis conference. Sadly however, as you can see in John Piper, Rick Warren & Foster-Willardism and Tim Keller And Contemplative Spirituality CSM has now infected the Reformed community.

Now there’s virtually no place left in the visible church where one can escape the ecumenical effects of the divination of CSM. Listen carefully; because I tell you in the Lord that Bob DeWaay is dead-on-target as he explains to you:

In February 2008, Christianity Today ran a glowing cover story about Evangelicalism’s recent embrace of medieval Roman Catholic mysticism entitled The Future lies in the Past… The article views Foster as one who continues to guide the movement… Foster’s “journey inward” is unbiblical and dangerous. I will show [in this article] that most of the spiritual disciplines that he calls “means of grace” are no means of grace at all—but a means of putting oneself under spiritual deception.

The Journey Inward

The Bible nowhere describes an inward journey to explore the realm of the spirit. God chose to reveal the truth about spiritual reality through His ordained, Spirit-inspired, biblical writers. What is spiritual and not revealed by God is of the occult and, therefore, forbidden. We have discussed this in many articles and have produced DVD seminars on the topic. But the concept of sola scriptura is totally lost on mystics such as Richard Foster. They, like the enthusiasts that Calvin and Luther warned against, believe they can gain valid and useful knowledge of spiritual things through direct, personal inspiration. Foster describes the idea of the disciplines that are the topic of his book: “The classical Disciplines of the spiritual life call us to move beyond surface living into the depths. They invite us to explore the inner caverns of the spiritual realm.”

So Foster has conceptually repudiated sola scriptura on page one to replace it with a journey inward to explore the realm of spirits. Something must have been seriously amiss in evangelicalism already in 1978 to render this book a bestseller! It ought to have been repudiated on the spot. In a footnote to that statement Foster writes, “In one form or another all of the devotional masters have affirmed the necessity of the Disciplines” (Foster: 1). The devotional “masters,” by the way, are mostly Roman Catholics who never were committed to the principle of sola scriptura.

It is not surprising that they looked for spirituality through experimentation. But as an “inner light” Quaker, Foster never was committed to sola scriptura either. Forgetting that the Bible forbids divination, Foster explains what he is after: [W]e must be willing to go down into the recreating silences, into the inner world of contemplation. In their writings, all of the masters of meditation strive to awaken us to the fact that the universe is much larger than we know, that there are vast unexplored inner regions that are just as real as the physical world we know so well. . . . They call us to the adventure, to be pioneers in this frontier of the Spirit. (Foster: 13)

Realizing that his readers would likely take this as an endorsement of Eastern religions, he makes a disclaimer that it is not Transcendental Meditation (TM) or something of that ilk: “Eastern meditation is an attempt to empty the mind; Christian meditation is an attempt to empty the mind in order to fill it” (Foster: 15). But what Foster wishes us to fill our minds with are personal revelations from the spirit realm that we naively are to think are the voice of God. This sort of meditation is not meditating on what God has said, but uses a technique to explore the spirit world. In other words, it is divination. (Online source)

See also:

MARK DRISCOLL AND NEO-REFORMED NEW CALVINIST CONTEMPLATIVE SPIRITUALITY

MYSTICISM: WHEN GOD SENDS AN EVIL SPIRIT

JUST SAY NO TO CONTEMPLATIVE/CENTERING PRAYER

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Evangelical Rip Van Winkles Call A Quaker Mystic For Their Bedtime Stories

An encyclopedia of theological error…um, but other than that it’s pretty good. By now it’s become quite obvious that evangelicalism is deep into her lust affair with the repackaged “Christian” mysticism of Living Spiritual Teacher and Quaker mystic Richard Foster who is hands down the leading proponent of spiritually corrupt Contemplative Spirituality/Mysticism. This neo-Gnosticism with its Contemplative/Centering Prayer actually flowered in the antibiblical monastic traditions of apostate Roman Catholicism and has now slithered its way deep into evangelicalism from its den in the Emerging Church.

For example recently we’ve seen Christianity Today Promoting the Cult of Richard Foster and his so-called “spiritual disciplines” of the spurious Spiritual Formation he teaches along with his spiritual twin Dallas Willard. Foster, who is a member of the Religious Society of Friends, aka the Quakers, is even touted by the Purpose Driven Pope Rick Warren as a leader within the evangelical church itself as I showed you in Rick Warren Guilty For Endorsing The Cult Of Guru Richard Foster And His Reimagined Gnostic Mysticism. CT is now out of the mystic closet as well which is quite obvious in Christianity Today Promoting The Roman Catholic Mystic Catherine Of Siena.

This cult rapidly growing up around a Quaker mystic who’s “gospel” message is so diluted he can even be listed right along with unbelieving pagan religious leaders like the Dali Lama, Ram Dass and Marianne Williamson as a great “spiritual teacher” at the Living Spiritual Teachers Project is now even entrenched deeply within the the allegedly “Protestant” and increasingly apostatizing Slowly Becoming Catholic as evidenced in Spiritual Formation Survey And Contemplative Prayer In The Baptist State Convention Of North Carolina (SBC).

And now we see the State Convention of the Southern Baptist Convention for the state of Georgia (Online source), has followed the egregious decision of Baptist State Convention of North Carolina (BSCNC) of the Southern Baptist Convention and in Georgia Baptist Convention (SBC) Now Promoting The Cult Of Richard Foster you’ll see it’s not even attempting to hide its open embrace of the dubious doctrines of the spurious Spiritual Formation promulgated by Foster and Willard et al as a viable approach to Protestant spirituality.

So with all of this in mind Apprising Ministries is very pleased to bring together in one source a couple of the very insightful things Dr. Gary Gilley has written concerning Celebration of Discipline (CoD) by “Roshi” Richard Foster. First, this is what he had to say about CoD in his excellent series called Mysticism:

Celebration of Discipline alone, not even referencing Foster’s other writings and teachings and ministries, is a virtual encyclopedia of theological error. We would be hard pressed to find in one so-called evangelical volume such a composite of false teaching. These include faulty views on the subjective leading of God (pp. 10, 16-17, 18, 50, 95, 98, 108-109, 128, 139-140, 149-150, 162, 167, 182); approval of New Age teachers (see Thomas Merton below); occultic use of imagination (pp. 25-26, 40-43, 163, 198); open theism (p. 35); misunderstanding of the will of God in prayer (p. 37); promotion of visions, revelations and charismatic gifts (pp. 108, 165, 168-169, 171, 193); endorsement of rosary and prayer wheel use (p. 64); misunderstanding of the Old Testament Law for today (pp. 82, 87); mystical journaling (p. 108); embracing pop-psychology (pp. 113-120); promoting Roman Catholic practices such as use of “spiritual directors,” confession and penance (pp. 146-150, 156, 185); and affirming of aberrant charismatic practices (pp. 158-174, 198). (Online source)

And now Gilley’s concise but dead on target review of the classic book, which would spawn The Cult of Guru Richard Foster. Gilley informs us:

Written over twenty-five hears ago, and proclaimed by Christianity Today as one of the ten best books of the twentieth century, the influence of Celebration of Discipline is all but incalculable. Foster is a Quaker, so his spiritual life is grounded in the subjective “inner light” presupposition of the Friends. He is highly steeped in the Roman Catholic mystics, drawing from dozens of them for his theology. More than that, Eugene Peterson informs us that Foster has “‘found’ the spiritual disciplines [in the mystics] that the modern world stored away and forgot” (p. 206). Foster’s views are also formed by Quaker mystics and even secular thinking, most surprisingly Carl Jung, self-confessed demon-possessed psychologist.

Without question these extra-biblical sources are behind Foster’s understanding of the Christian life. That is not to say that he does not refer to Scripture and occasionally interpret it correctly. However, it is astounding to see how often he mutilates the Word of God (e.g. pp. 16, 17, 55, 83, 114, 156, 170, and 177).

As a result of his unbiblical routes and disregard for the meaning of Scripture, it should not surprise us that Foster has become a Pied Piper leading multitudes away from biblical Christianity. From the vantage point of twenty-six years since the publication of Celebration of Discipline we see just how far astray Foster has taken his followers. These include:

•Subjective leading of God as being the norm.

•Journaling and prayer as ways that God speaks to us.

•The contemplative prayer movement which has taken many to the foothills of Eastern mysticism.

•Centering prayer in which one moves to the center of God or self—an Eastern mystical practice.

•An unbiblical use of imagination which leads to occultic visualization.

•Receptivity to all the charismatic gifts including tongues, visions, revelations and prophecy.

•Use of rosaries and prayer wheels.

•Embracing of psychological views such as self-fulfillment, self-actualization, loving ourselves, mutual submission, and healing of inner wounds.

•Propagation of the Roman Catholic view of confession, penitence and spiritual directives.

•Promoting charismatic patterns of worship, including calling for the presence of God and holy laughter.

Overall Foster’s book is an encyclopedia of unbiblical teaching, which leads the unsuspecting reader away from Christ and into mysticism or worse. It is a telltale sign of the state of the church to find how accepted Foster’s teachings are. (Online source)

Reprinted by permission. The original appears in its original format here.

See also:

CONTEMPLATIVE SPIRITUALITY/MYSTICISM INVADES EVANGELICALISM WITH RICK WARREN AND KAY WARREN LEADING THE CHARGE

SPIRITUAL FORMATION IS PIETISM REIMAGINED

WHO IS RICHARD FOSTER?

MEDITATING ON CONTEMPLATIVE/CENTERING PRAYER (PART 2)

CONTEMPLATIVE/CENTERING PRAYER AS “CHRISTIAN” MEDITATION

RICHARD FOSTER AND GNOSTIC MYSTICISM

THOMAS MERTON AND THE BUDDHAS

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You may remember a little over a year ago in Evangelicalism Now Reaping What It Has Sown I reminded you that none other than fellow Living Spiritual Teacher and Emergent Church guru Brian McLaren told you they were “key mentors” of the Emerging Church. ^[1]

So what did you think they were mentoring these Emergent leaders in? This foolish divination crawls along the floor of your evangelical churches—particularly spread by ill-trained worship ministers—as so-called Spiritual Formation and then serves to create an effete form of pseudo-Christianity.

Take a serious look at those who continue in it and you’ll notice a proliferation of spiritual sissies afraid of their own shadow. One current example of how spiritually spineless people who dabble in this occultic divination of CSM become would be the Elephant Room 2 and the heretical T.D. Jakes.

Now you will better grasp what Carl Trueman has to say today in Fixing the Indemnity:

To be blunt: why so much noise about Jakes when Furtick and Noble have already apparently been established in this Elephant Room circle for some time? Frankly, they hardly seem any closer to Paul’s description of what an elder or overseer should be than the Bishop. Why all the hoohah and handwringing now about TD? Is it just because he is more notorious and thus harder to hide from public view?

Are Furtick and Noble less well known and thus easier to ignore? Surely it is the same horse, just a different jockey, as one former colleague of mine used to say? Are people really surprised that someone comfortable with Furtick has no problem with Jakes? If they are, they should give me a call: I could do them a really good deal on the Brooklyn Bridge.

Further, a number of non-US correspondents have been checking these two individuals out on Youtube and elsewhere and have asked how on earth these people are so popular over here. They look odd and their stage antics are crass. They seem to reek of the phony and the contrived. Why do people fall for them?

The answer was provided by a Canadian correspondent: these performers have adopted the style of the American stand up comic. The swaggering up and down; the conversational banter; the faux outrage; the mocking cynicism about anybody who might value decency and order as traditionally conceived; the studiedly slovenly dress style; the portentous pauses while waiting for a laugh; the ugly profanity; and, in some well-known cases, a preoccupation with talking about sex. (Online source)

Here, I’ll say absolutely, and share the impression the Lord gave me—and if you’re a charismatic CSM practitioner, how do you know He didn’t. That is Gospel Coalition Council Members James MacDonald and Mark Driscoll are being deceived. And as Steve Camp tweeted today:

(Online source)

Tru dat. In fact, Camp also tweeted a couple of other salient points, which I feel led to bring to your attention. First of all, a bit of his own personal testimony:

(Online source)

It’s sure my pleasure to do what I can to help make sure that gets on the record. Hey, look at that; it seems Camp spoke with Jakes personally. Then comes a critical question:

(Online source)

What I told Steve Camp is something I first heard Chris Rosebrough of Pirate Christian Radio discuss. Multi-site churches, with all of their Internet and video screen bells and whistles have massive technology bills to pay. Now consider the economy along with their “numbers are king” philosophy.

Yes, that’s right; it isn’t a theology. Rather, it’s their own philosophy dreamed up by the Church Growth Movement, from which this current cult of church-planters hatched. They have no choice but to continue trying to expand; because unless they do, 1) they’re considered failures, and 2) they’ll go out of business.

Now maybe the thinking skills-numbing effects of CSM, combined with the subjectivity of charismatic practices, within the Reformed camp becomes a little clearer for you. MacDonald and Driscoll are basically in the same boat as Prophet-Pastor Steven Furtick:  They have a real need of: M-O-N-E-Y.

Suddenly the revelation comes: Jesus would be pleased if we try and bring unity within the Body of Christ through dialogue in ER2 with T.D. Jakes. Well, even though I did have pizza while watching the NFL yesterday; that didn’t come from God. However, it really does make perfect business sense.

T.D. Jakes is among the very best in the business at begging for bucks; as I see it, he’s a real Tom Brady of manipulating the masses. What’s opened the door for such compromise? The embrace of this spurious spiritual formation; the stupid CSM of Richard Foster now bridging evangelicalism with WF.

Research it yourself if you don’t want to take my word for it. CSM has been in the charismatic camp, e.g. John Wimber and the Vineyard, for years. The modern phenomenon of speaking in tongues—as opposed to the Biblical—like Contemplative/Centering Prayer is prayer in an altered state of consciousness.

What you’re actually dealing with, is your brain on mysticism. Behold below its eventual effects…

________________________________________________________________________________
End notes:

Back to note 1 — http://tiny.cc/dpm2s, accessed 10/3/11.

See also:

JAMES MACDONALD AND HIS PAGAN CRITICS

JAMES MACDONALD, T.D. JAKES, AND POSTMODERN OBFUSCATION

T.D. JAKES AND THE TRINITY

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See also:

DOMYSTIC

RICK WARREN, JOHN PIPER & CONTEMPLATIVE SPIRITUALITY/MYSTICISM

TIM KELLER RECOMMENDING ROMAN CATHOLIC MYSTICISM

MARK DRISCOLL, ACTS 29 NETWORK, & THE EMERGING CHURCH

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Briefly, Leadership Network’s propped up Purpose Driven Pope Rick Warren has actually been been up to spiritual monk-ee business for years now in opening the door for corrupt Contemplative Spirituality/Mysticism (CSM) ala Living Spiritual Teacher and Quaker mystic Richard Foster—and his spiritual twin Dallas Willard—within the mainstream of evangelicalism.

You need to understand that this spurious CSM is basically reimagined Roman Catholic mysticism allegedly “discovered” by Foster, and now perpetrated within the mainstream of evangelicalism as supposed Spiritual Formation—with an able assist from his running mate Willard; both were key mentors of the sinfully ecumenical neo-liberal cult of the Emergent Church aka the Emerging Church.

CSM was a core doctrine in the EC right from its hatching in Hell and plays a crucial role in the development of its postmodern Progressive Christian theology—a Liberalism 2.0—that they often refer to under their circus “big tent” as Emergence Christianity.

The truth is that the very rotten core practice of this CSM is Contemplative/Centering Prayer, which is sometimes referred to as practicing “silence and solitude” or by the ridiculous moniker “wordless prayer”; but it’s actually a type of meditation in an altered state of consciousness that’s virtually identical to that practiced in Eastern religions such as Zen Buddhism and the transcendental meditation of Hinduism.

And yet this kind of spurious spiritual formation—so-called “Christian” mysticism, which really developed in the antibiblical monastic traditions of apostate Roman Catholicism, is now showing up in more and more evangelical churches.

The following comes from a series called Gospel Spirituality-MCM by New Calvinist Dr. Tim Keller:

(Online source)

As you can also see in Meditation What it is? , “This talk was given during a leadership training session at Redeemer Presbyterian Church in New York City” October 5, 1998:

(Online source)

In this myth of meditation Dr. Keller teaches us something that is not Biblical meditation and counter to sola Scriptura:

Meditation is sensing with the mind instead of just thinking… I’m talking about seeing even though I’m not seeing anything… In other words, by letting your heart sense the truths rather than simply understanding them you’ve begun to meditate. Meditation is to bring the truth in contact with the heart until the Triune God becomes so real to you that you seek Him with all your being.”

So this is where I’m going to recommend an afternoon meditation for you; here it goes:

If meditation really is to bring the truth in contact with the heart so that you seek God with all your being, then just how is it these vaunted Roman Catholic mystics, who had forgotten more about meditation than Dr. Keller will ever know, never discovered the truth concerning actual Gospel of Jesus Christ?

 They denied that salvation by God’s grace alone, through faith alone, in the finished work on the Cross of Christ alone, and remained slaves to the spiritual bondage of apostate Roman Catholicism, which Dr. John MacArthur rightly stated is, “Satan’s best front for the Kingdom of God.”

The more time I spend contemplating the subject, it seems to me—in my heart—I really believe that the truth is Jesus would say of such as these:

Let them alone; they are blind guides. (Matthew 15:14)

See also:

TIM KELLER AND CONTEMPLATIVE PASTRIX ADELE CALHOUN

WHAT’S GOING ON WITH DR. JOHN PIPER?

ACTS 29 NETWORK AND REFORMED COUNTER REFORMATION SPIRITUALITY?

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First, it is necessary to understand what sola Scriptura does and does not assert. The Reformation principle of sola Scriptura has to do with the sufficiency of Scripture as our supreme authority in all spiritual matters. Sola Scriptura simply means that all truth necessary for our salvation and spiritual life is taught either explicitly or implicitly in Scripture.

It is not a claim that all truth of every kind is found in Scripture. The most ardent defender of sola Scriptura will concede, for example, that Scripture has little or nothing to say about DNA structures, microbiology, the rules of Chinese grammar, or rocket science. 

This or that “scientific truth” for example, may or may not be actually true, whether or not it can be supported by Scripture—but Scripture is a “more sure Word,” standing above all other truth in its authority and certainty. It is “more sure,” according to the apostle Peter, than the data we gather firsthand through our own senses (2 Pet. 1:19). Therefore Scripture is the highest and supreme authority on any matter to which it speaks. But there are many important questions on which Scripture is silent. Sola Scriptura makes no claim to the contrary.

Nor does sola Scriptura claim that everything Jesus or the apostles ever taught is preserved in Scripture.  It only means that everything necessary, everything binding on our consciences, and everything God requires of us is given to us in Scripture.

Furthermore, we are forbidden to add to or take way from Scripture (cf. Deut. 4:2; 12:32, cf. Rev. 22:18-19). To do so is to lay on people’s shoulders a burden that God Himself does not intend for them to bear (cf. Matt. 23:4).

Scripture is therefore the perfect and only standard of spiritual truth, revealing infallibly all that we must believe in order to be saved, and all that we must do in order to glorify God. That—no more, no less—is what sola Scriptura means.

The Westminster Confession of Faith defines the sufficiency of Scripture like this:

The whole counsel of God, concerning all things necessary for his own glory, man’s salvation, faith, and life, is either expressly set down in scripture, or by good and necessary consequence may be deduced from scripture: unto which nothing at any time is to be added, whether by new revelations of the Spirit, or traditions of men (1:6).

The Thirty-nine Articles of the Anglican Church include this statement on sola Scriptura:

Holy Scripture containeth all things necessary to salvation: so that whatsoever is not read therein, nor may be proved thereby, is not to be required of any man, that it should be believed as an article of the Faith, or be thought requisite or necessary to salvation (article 6).

So sola Scriptura simply means that Scripture is sufficient. The fact that Jesus did and taught many things not recorded in Scripture (Jn. 20:30; 21:25) is wholly irrelevant to the principle of sola Scriptura. The fact that most of the apostles’ actual sermons in the early churches were not written down and preserved for us does not diminish the truth of biblical sufficiency one bit. What is certain is that all that is necessary is in Scripture—and we are forbidden “to exceed what is written” (1 Cor. 4:6).

Scripture clearly claims for itself this sufficiency—and nowhere more clearly that 2 Timothy 3:15-17. A brief summary of that passage is perhaps appropriate here as well. In short, verse 15 affirms that Scripture is sufficient for salvation: “The sacred writings . . . are able to give you the wisdom that leads to salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.” Verse 16 affirms the absolute authority of Scripture, which is “God-breathed” (Gk. theopneustos) and profitable for our instruction. And verse 17 states that Scripture is able to equip the man of God “for every good work.” 

So the assertion that the Bible itself does not teach sola Scriptura is simply wrong. (Scripture, Tradition, and Rome, Part 2)

John MacArthur

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Sadly, we’re watching the Reformation being undone as more and more people embrace corrupt Contemplative Spirituality/Mysticism (CSM); particularly within the neo-liberal cult of the sinfully ecumenical Emerging Church. One of the trends developing as the above happens is a neo-Reformed new Calvinism, which I touched upon recently e.g. in Mark Driscoll And Neo-Reformed New Calvinist Contemplative Spirituality.

As I said in recent posts such as Acts 29 Network And Reformed Counter Reformation Spirituality? and Acts 29 Pastor Matt Chandler On Being A Reformed Charismatic, in my estimation, there’s very good reason for concern as these people are rapidly growing in popularity, and in influence within the younger sector of the Reformed Camp; blessed as they are by Dr. John Piper, who’s seen by some as a “pioneer” of this New Calvinism.[1] Now I will tell you that I’m really not very familiar with Dr. Piper as he’s never been my cup of tea; it’s not that I’d thought badly of his ministry, it simply wasn’t one that I felt led to follow.

As I recall, one of the first posts in which I ever mentioned Dr. Piper was Doug Pagitt, John Piper, And Karma Kick-Back where heretical universalist Emergent Church pastor Doug Pagitt, part of the Emergent trinity along with his progressive theologian in residence Tony Jones and EC guru Brian McLaren, takes issue with Dr. Piper’s views of the Emerging Church and its new “big tent” progressive/liberal Emergence Christianity. A couple of days later I would write Rick Warren To Be Featured At Desiring God 2010 where I was among the few who broke the story that Dr. Piper had made the ill-advised decision to invite Leadership Network’s propped-up Purpose Driven Pope Rick Warren to DG 2010 as a keynote speaker.

Then, as I shared in Rick Warren Doctrinal And Sound?, unfortunately it got even worse when Dr. Piper decided to defend his decision:

At root I think [Rick Warren] is theological and doctrinal and sound.
(as cited Online source)

So whether one even knows it or not, Warrengate still is slowly simmering; Dr. Piper’s choice here has had the rippling effect of people, even outside of any discernment ministries, beginning to look a little closer at his theology, educational background, and associations; e.g. his charismatic bent, his connection to Fuller Theological Seminary, and with the late Ralph Winter. To give you a peek into how someone like myself becomes aware of some of these issues, I received a tip from a source back in June of this past year; as I followed up on it, it would eventually lead me to discover some disturbing information which I orginally began sharing in Questions Concerning Dr. John Piper and Dr. John Piper And Unanswered Questions.

When I wrote those initial articles Dr. Piper was on his much talked about sabbatical; now however, he is back and a few of the mystic books I pointed in the latter piece are no longer in the BBC online library. However, questions remain because what you’ll see below is still available; as such, we now have sufficient reason to assume they are approved, where the others are not. I also believe it really becomes all the more necessary to wonder about all of this when I was sent a link a few months ago to a book review by Dr. Gary Gilley, pastor of Southern View Chapel, where he looks at Dr. Piper’s When I Don’t Desire God; in his review Dr. Gilley brings out his own concerns with some of the theology of Dr. John Piper:

• Finally, Piper quotes favorably from a very disturbing stable of authors: Dietrich Bonhoeffer (popular liberal theologian, who, by the way, was executed not for his faith in Christ, but for his part in an assassination attempt on Adolf Hitler) (p. 90), Dallas Willard (leader in the unbiblical spiritual formation movement) (p. 119), G.K. Chesterton (Roman Catholic author) (p. 196), and Richard Foster (father and main promoter of the infiltration of Roman Catholic mysticism into evangelical circles) (pp. 192-193). He also speaks twice of the “dark night of the soul” which comes from counter-reformation Catholic mystic St. John of the Cross (pp. 217, 229).

Most disturbing is Foster’s quote calling for “new prophets to arise in our day” to which Piper responds, “And when they arise, one way that we fight for joy in God is to read what they write” (p. 193). After authoring a book which majors on pointing us to the Bible in our fight for joy, it is disconcerting to now read of an encouragement to read the words of modern prophets; and coming from Foster’s perspective and Piper’s theology on prophets, they are both referring to extrabiblical revelation through present-day prophets).
(Online source)

Most disturbing is right; you know e.g. from Steve Gladen, Saddleback Church Small Groups, And Quaker Mystic Spirituality and Saddleback Church, Rick Warren, And Spiritual Disciplines that the sinfully ecumenical neo-liberal cult of the Emergent Church aka the Emerging Church would end up being a Trojan Horse that squishy evanjellyfish leaders would bring right into their own camp as the vehicle from which corrupt Contemplative Spirituality/Mysticism (CSM)—a romanticized version of the Counter (hello) Reformation spirituality of the apostate Roman Catholic Church—would be unloaded. The EC has been pawning off this spurious CSM for years as so-called Spiritual Formation.

I’ve also pointed out that it’s an incontrovertible fact the main purveyors of CSM would be the Living Spiritual Teacher and Quaker mystic Richard Foster, along with Southern Baptist minister Dallas Willard; whom many people don’t seem to realize is quite literally Foster’s spiritual twin and teaches, and practices, the exact same things. You may recall that I’ve also told you, in no uncertain terms, it’s well past time for evangelical leaders to begin recognizing the inclusive, and increasingly universal, fruit of this spiritual skubalon of Foster-Willardism. So now you have the backdrop upon which to see what I am going to show you concerning Piper’s church; and it just may also shed some more light upon what I already showed you above.

First of all, if you don’t know, Bethlehem Baptist Church (BBC) is where Dr. John Piper is listed as “Vocational Elder; Pastor for Preaching & Vision; Chancellor, Bethlehem College and Seminary”:

(Online source)

Under Resources at the BBC website we find the Library, and then at the bottom of that page under Links we find the Online catalog; the links to the Online catalog have been changed, so I am correcting them to better enable you to examine what I’m going to show you below. First, notice above that Dr. Gilley correctly expressed concern that Dr. Piper “quotes favorably from a very disturbing stable of authors.” Two of these happen to be leading proponents, and personal practitioners of, Quaker—and refried Roman Catholic—mysticism; and in addition, both Foster and Willard are sinfully ecumenical and hostile to Reformation theology.

Have you stopped to think, if someone knows another’s work well enough to be familiar with it so as to favorably quote from it, then they are indeed reading it. The question is: What could a Calvinist supposedly holding to the doctrines of grace inherent within Reformation theology be learning about proper Christian spirituality from a Quaker mystic, whose own prolonged practice of spurious CSM has led him into the sinful ecumenicism of—contra Reformation—considering the apostate Roman Catholic Church, which Dr. John MacArthur calls a front for Satan, as a genuine expression of the Christian faith; even though she long ago placed her anathema on the very Gospel itself?

The main vehicle for CSM is corrupt Contemplative/Centering Prayer (CCP); a type of meditation in an altered state of consciousness, which itself is a form of neo-Gnosticism that flowered in the antibiblical monastic traditions of apostate Roman Catholicism. I’ve also showed you that Foster’s “Christian” message, which is also the fruit of his own practice of CSM, is now so drastically diluted that he’s even listed as one of the spiritually bankrupt gurus at something called the Living Spiritual Teachers Project. Over at the interspiritual website Spirituality & Practice you will find this Quaker mystic included; and since when were Quakers ever evangelical Protestants anyway?

But there is Richard Foster listed right alongside such false religious teachers as Deepak Chopra, the Dalai Lama, Emergent Church guru Brian McLaren, Thich Nhat Hanh, Eckhart Tolle, and Marianne Williamson. Do you think there’s any chance whatsoever that the aforementioned Dr. John MacArthur would ever find himself listed there; well, maybe…right about the time ice skates become standard issue in Hell. But I’m sorry to have to inform you it now gets worse concerning Dr. Piper. Look at the following one finds in the Bethlehem Baptist Church library as we search online. Richard Foster, Prayer Finding the Heart’s True Home:

(Online source)

Here, from my personal copy, is a little sample of what we learn about “prayer” from guru Foster:

Contemplative Prayer immerses us into the silence of God. How desperately we in the modern world need this wordless baptism… Contemplative Prayer is the one discipline that can free us from our addiction to words. Progress in intimacy with God means progress toward silence… It is recreating silence to which we are called in Contemplative Prayer…

A Warning And A Precaution

At the outset I need to give a word of warning,… Contemplative Prayer is not for the novice. I do not say this about any other form of prayer… Contemplative prayer is for those who have exercised their spiritual muscles a bit and know something about the landscape of the spirit. In fact, those who work in the area of spiritual direction always look for signs of a maturing faith before encouraging individuals into Contemplative Prayer…

I also want to give a word of precaution. In the silent contemplation of God we are entering deeply into the spiritual realm, and there is such a thing as a supernatural guidance. While the Bible does not give us a lot of information on that, there are various orders of spiritual beings, and some of them are definitely not in cooperation with God and his way! … But for now I want to encourage you to learn and practice prayers of protection.[2]

As I pointed out elsewhere, this couldn’t be clearer that what we’re actually dealing with here is a new form of Gnosticism. Can you see; above we have the “initiated” and “enlightened” ones who are the superior Christians, as they “work in the area of spiritual direction” (when was this ever part of Protestant practice), and then they are looking for those disciples “who have excercised their spiritual muscles” enough for initiation because this CCP—even though necessary for “intimacy with God—still “is not for” every Christian. This is a return to Romanist religious bondage; and an asceticism-lite form of Pietism.

It seems peculiar to me that Dr. Piper would wish his flock to be exposed to Foster’s foolishness. Then there’s Foster’s clone Dallas Willard and his own ode to asceticism Spirit of the Disciplines: Understanding How God Changes Lives:

(Online source)

Even though Dallas Willard admits that the so-called spiritual disciplines are not taught in the Bible, elsewhere in a thorough, and biblical, dismantling of Willard’s twisting of God’s Word in the book above we find that he does try to teach Willard-Fosterism’s quasi-Quaker and Roman Catholic mysticism is found in Matthew 11:29-30; where Jesus says to us — “Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” Obviously, on the face of this text we don’t see any semi-ascetic so-called spiritual disciplines; Willard instead imports them into this passage of the Bible.

Then we’re told that completely consistent:

with most unbiblical approaches, the spiritual disciplines are based on the idea of innate human powers that can be harnessed for good. Holding a false concept of sin as a “disruption of that higher [spiritual] life,” Willard looks for a solution through finding our true potential, individually and corporately, through spiritual disciplines that will enable us to reconstruct the rule of God now…

Starting with a serious misinterpretation of Matthew 11:29, 30, Dallas Willard built his entire system on the idea that Jesus’ “yoke” consists of various spiritual disciplines. The issue in Matthew 11 was Messianic salvation—finding true Sabbath rest in Christ rather than following meticulous religious rules decreed by the Scribes and Pharisees. The idea of practicing spiritual disciplines was imported to the text, not found there.

We live in an age of mysticism. People lust for spiritual reality and spiritual experiences. The danger is that unbiblical practices will give people a real spiritual experience, but not from God. (Online source, emphasis mine)

Why then would Dr. John Piper, a Calvinist, want his followers exposed to this kind of man-centered and blatantly false mystical teaching of Foster-Willardism? Notice also the quasi-dominionism these debunked spiritual disciplines are supposed to enable us to start to accomplish as we supposedly “reconstruct the rule of God now”; and now we consider that in the BBC library Online catalog we find five books from former professor of Church Growth at Fuller Theological Seminary School of World Mission C. Peter Wagner, including his infamous Third Wave of the Holy Spirit Encountering the Power of Signs and Wonders:

(Online source)

As I pointed out before, Christian apologist Sandy Simpson has collected some informative articles concerning C. Peter Wagner at his fine Deception In The Church website[3]; so for now I’ll just tell you that “C. Peter Wagner [has been] Convening Apostle of the International Coalition of Apostles”[4], one of the spiritually nefarious Kansas City Prophets, and “has long held to the heretical Latter Rain position.”[5] Again it would seem rather odd for Dr. Piper to appeal to a false prophet for teaching concerning “spiritual warfare”[6] and to actually encourage his flock to read his warped works[7]. Sadly, since Dr. Piper made his error of inviting Rick Warren to DG 2010, more questions will be arising.

In closing this, for now, let’a consider that Dr. John Piper and C. Peter Wagner were both quite taken with the late “mission engineer” Ralph Winter[8]; each associated with Fuller Theological Seminary, and as you can see in Influences: Rick Warren And C. Peter Wagner Of New Apostolic Reformation, it was Wagner who was Rick Warren’s mentor when Warren “wrote his doctoral dissertation at Fuller Seminary on his church growth ideas.” Now we remember when Dr. Piper said in his defense of the Warren invitation, “I just think he could put me to shame with his aggressively, in-your-life, transformative discipling of his church.”[9]

And we’re told that Dr. Piper met Rick Warren at Ralph Winter’s funeral; as we stop and consider all of the above, another question comes emerging: Could it be they all already had much more in common than we even knew?

________________________________________________________________________________
Endnotes:

[1] http://tinyurl.com/az6xvh, accessed 1/10/11.

[2] Richard Foster, Prayer: Finding The Heart’s True Home [New York: Harper Collins, 1997], 155, 156, 157.

[3] http://tinyurl.com/2fxqqon, accessed 1/10/11.

[4] http://tinyurl.com/2b7rlnp, accessed 1/10/11.

[5] http://www.letusreason.org/Latrain33.htm, accessed 1/10/11.

[6] http://tinyurl.com/klrtxa, accessed 1/10/11.

[7] http://tinyurl.com/34l5chm, accessed 1/10/11.

[8] http://tinyurl.com/n8wxjx, accessed 1/10/11.

[9] http://tinyurl.com/387e677, accessed 1/10/11.

See also:

IS THIS DOCTRINAL AND SOUND DR. JOHN PIPER?

CONTEMPLATIVE SPIRITUALITY OF RICHARD FOSTER ROOTED IN THE EASTERN DESERT AND THOMAS MERTON

DEBUNKING DALLAS WILLARD AND BEING WORTHY TO BE SAVED

ROMAN CATHOLIC MONASTICISM BEGINS WITH “DESERT FATHERS”

TIM KELLER ALSO PROMOTING MYSTIC GURU PETER SCAZZERO?

PETER SCAZZERO RECOMMENDING CONTEMPLATIVE/CENTERING PRAYER

MARK DRISCOLL AND NEO-REFORMED NEW CALVINIST CONTEMPLATIVE SPIRITUALITY

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HT: Email Brigade

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 A brother offended is more unyielding than a strong city.

 A Big Name In The Visible Church Doesn’t Somehow Get A Pass From Their Sin

That’s the sad fact. Purpose Driven Pope Rick Warren of the highly influential Saddleback Church is caught in a lie, unless the following—which Apprising Ministries first showed you in Apprising Ministries, Rick Warren, & Twitter—is actually a retweet:

(Online source)

Here’s a brief recap concerning the backstory; I showed you before that this is, indeed, the Verified Account of Southern Baptist pastor Rick Warren:

(Online source)

The same alleged retweet is also repeated at Rick Warren’s Facebook page as well:

(Online source)

Over the years here at Apprising Ministries I’ve found that tweets, videos, and posts, regarding Rick Warren have a nasty habit of suddenly diappearing when held up to scrutiny; so to his credit, I’ll tell you he has left these online. Now I’m certainly no expert when it comes to Twitter, but I’m informed that “RT” is shorthand for “retweet”; as in when you’re reposting something someone else has said.

The key issue in all of this is as follows; for Rick Warren to retweet the tweet in question concerning me, Ingrid Schlueter of the Crosstalk Blog, and Christian apologist Chris Rosebrough, host of the Fighting for the Faith, then something called ApprisingMin and/or something else called DespisingMin would’ve had to have posted it in the first place.

But as I showed you before, the evidence clearly suggests there never was any intial tweet from either ApMin or DeMin for Warren to have retweeted i.e. he is the originator of this tweet:

(Online source)

As of this writing this remains ApMin’s last tweet:

(Online source)

I told you before that based upon some of the *ahem* content on ApMin and DeMin, it’s likely these two accounts actually originate with someone who is aligned with a rather rapscallion—and largely Biblically illiterate—bunch crowning themselves Outlaw Preachers, who have slithered up around the original outlaw preacher, the apostate gay-affirming Emerging Church “pastor” Jay Bakker. Being they are hostile to me, we’re probably never going to be able to arrive at the truth unless they are honorable.

Having said that, as far as DeMin is concerned, its last tweet indicates that whomever this is has become aware of my Apprising Ministries, Rick Warren, & Twitter post. Interesting to note here that, quite conspicuous by its absence, is any claim to have originated the tweet in question. In other words, if they had written it, this would have been the perfect time to own it; but they did not:

(Online source)

Let’s be clear: I have spoken at length with both Ingrid Schlueter and Chris Rosebrough, whom Rick Warren has even met with in person a year or so back, and I know we’re not the least upset that Warren has a low opinion of us. All one has to do is Google my name and you’ll quickly discover I’ve been spoken of way more harshly than anything Rick Warren has said publicly concerning me.

It makes no difference to me because everyone who knows me knows I’m nothing at all like the “Ken” of blogosphere lore. This is not about what the tweet says and infers. Here’s the issue in a nutshell: If there was no initial tweet, and it’s looking more and more like there was not, then Rick Warren has attributed his sophomoric insult to SOMEONE ELSE. If neither Twitter account originated that tweet, then by claiming he’s retweeted them Rick Warren is actually lying by implicating them as the source.

Then on top of what is looking like a lie, Rick Warren later attempts to present himself honorable and eloquent by avoiding a “fight” that he himself has instigated; and with this seems to be saying he’ll have no further comment to “fools” on this unfortunate matter:

 
(Online source)

Chris Rosebrough has likened Rick Warren to Bill Clinton; I’ll see that and raise it to Warren strikes me as a spiritual version of “The Teflon Don” in that nothing seems to stick to him. Well, as a fellow pastor in the Southern Baptist Convention with Rick Warren, the only thing I insist on is that he be held accountable, if indeed, he is attributing his own words to someone else. To contextualize for the missiologists out there: Warren needs to man up; and he owes those accounts a public apology.

To think, Chancellor of the Bethlehem College and Seminary Dr. John Piper, said of Rick Warren:

(Online source)

I don’t think so; and Rick, while we’re quoting Proverbs, here’s one from my daily meditation in the Scriptures today. Perhaps before you get to your Henri Nouwen material later you’ll contemplate this:

Whoever heeds instruction is on the path to life, but he who rejects reproof leads others astray. (Proverbs 10:17)

*UPDATE*

Rick Warren is lying; the tasteless tweet in question was not a retweet at all, as you will clearly see by the following:

 
(Online source)

(Online source)

See also:

JOHN PIPER ON RICK WARREN

RICK WARREN AND DESTINY DOCTOR LAVERNE ADAMS

DECADE OF DESTINY WITH RICK WARREN

RICK WARREN WANTS US TO LEARN FROM HENRI NOUWEN

RICK WARREN AND PURPOSE DRIVEN ROMAN CATHOLICS

SADDLEBACK CHURCH, RICK WARREN, AND SPIRITUAL DISCIPLINES

REDEFINING THE CHURCH: THE CHURCH GROWTH MOVEMENT’S UNBIBLICAL DEFINITION OF THE CHURCH

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Radicalis featured Dr. Ed Stetzer along with his Acts 29 cohort Mark Driscoll, as well as Perry Noble, Kerry Shook, and Andy Stanley; I also reminded you that there Rick Warren is pronounced his PDL blessing upon “evangelical” guru of  Contemplative Spirituality/Mysticism (CSM) Peter Scazzero. 

We saw in Tim Keller Also Promoting Mystic Guru Peter Scazzero? that under Community Formation in the Small Group Ministries one of the “Recommended Resources” is The Emotionally Healthy Church (EHC) by father pastor Scazzero.

Well, I guess it shouldn’t come as a shock when we know that Keller tells us of EHC: 

[1] 

In EHC Scazzero recommends the Christian be Faithful to Your True Self as he asks a couple of questions: 

Does how I am living my life fit with my God-given nature? Does it fit my true self (to use Thomas Merton’s terminology in his Seeds of Contemplation)?[2] 

The book that dom pastor Scazzero references from the late Roman Catholic mystic monk Thomas Merton is decidedly anti-Sola Scriptura and is actually an ode to the highly subjective experience of Contemplative/Centering Prayer (CCP), which itself is a transcendental meditation-lite in an altered state of consciousness lightly sprayed with Christian terminology.

Merton tells us: 

contemplation [i.e. meditation] is more than a consideration of abstract truths about God, more even than affective meditation on the things we believe [sound familiar?] It is awakening, enlightenment [i.e. transformation] and the amazing intuitive grasp by which love gains certitude of God’s creative and dynamic intervention in our daily lives. (5) 

Merton’s life-long devotion practice of CCP led him to becoming more like the Buddha than the Christ; in fact, you can read his nauseating idolatry for yourself in Thomas Merton And The Buddhas. In Peter Scazzero Bringing Rome Home To His Church the other day I told you that Scazzero is the founder and senior pastor of New Life Fellowship Church, an ostensibly Protestant Church he’s leading right back into Romish spiritual bondage, of which, the Protestant Reformation freed them. 

Pretending to be Protestant pastor Pete Scazzero has instituted a “Rule” at his becoming No Life Spiritual Prison just as we’d see for a Roman Catholic monastic order: 

 
(Online source) 

So we really aren’t surprised to see the following father pastor Pete tweet: 

(Online source) 

The link takes us to the Protestant Friar’s Facebook page where he expands his thoughts a bit: 

(Online source) 

Just so you know, among the things Benedict was known for was developing Lectio Divina, which is a practice of corrupt Contemplative Spirituality/Mysticism involving meditation in an altered state of consciousnes i.e. the CCP I mentioned previously.

With Peter Scazzero we see more influence of the spread of this romanticized Roman Catholic monastic mysticism within a quasi-Reformed Protestant evangelicalism with its Counter Reformation spirituality. Welcome to the postmodern Wonderland of Humpty Dumpty language where words retain no meaning… 

________________________________________________________________________________
Endnotes:

[1] Peter Scazzero, The Emotionally Healthy Church [Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2003], 2. 

[2] Ibid., 144. 

[3] Thomas Merton, Seeds of Contemplation [New York: New Directions, 1987], 5. 

See also:

PETER SCAZZERO ENJOYS PRAYING THROUGH APOSTASY

RICK WARREN WANTS US TO LEARN FROM HENRI NOUWEN

STAFF OF SADDLEBACK CHURCH RECOMMEND MYSTIC HENRI NOUWEN

SBC PROTESTANT PASTOR RICK WARREN DOUBLE-MINDED ON THE REFORMATION AND ROMAN CATHOLICISM

NEW CALVINISM’S MARK DRISCOLL ENCOURAGES CONTEMPLATIVE SPIRITUAL DISCIPLINES?

CONTEMPLATIVE SPIRITUALITY OF RICHARD FOSTER ROOTED IN THE EASTERN DESERT AND THOMAS MERTON

DONALD WHITNEY AND EVANGELICAL CONTEMPLATIVE SPIRITUALITY/MYSTICISM

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